“Toy Story 5″ VFX supervisor Thomas Jordan has been keeping a secret for months. During a SXSW London panel on Friday, he revealed that he’s known about Taylor Swift’s song for the animated film since February.
Titled “I Knew It, I Knew You,” Swift’s “Toy Story” tune — which sees the pop star return to her country roots — was released on Friday before the movie hits theaters on June 19.
“Turns out, Taylor Swift is a huge ‘Toy Story’ fan like many of us,” Jordan said at SXSW London on Friday. “She actually requested to see an early version of then film and she wrote the song and then asked us if we wanted it and we said ‘Uh, yes! Yes we do.’ That was in February, so we had to keep that a secret since then.”
Jordan also said that the “Toy Story 5” team had to “create a decoy version” of the film without the song in it to show to press and other Pixar/Disney staff who weren’t privy to the information. Some staffers, he said, just found out about the Swift song last week.
The fifth installment in Pixar and Disney’s iconic animated franchise picks up with beloved toys Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Woody (Tom Hanks) and Jessie (Joan Cusack) a few years after the events of the fourth film (voiced by Greta Lee). This time, they’re facing the existential threat that technology has posed to playtime, represented by smart device Lilypad.
More to come…
